Gadsden high school is the first school in the county to provide their entire staff with Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA). This comes after Doña Ana County awarded them a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The training will be provided by Doña Ana County mental health educators and certified trainers at the New Mexico Department of Health.
After an early release day, Gadsden staff headed to the cafeteria to start the training. Among the staff was also the school board secretary, Claudia Rodriguez. She said It takes a village to enact positive change, and that is why she is supporting and sitting in on the training.
“I firmly believe that our students need the support, as much as they can get. So, I think this training is phenomenal,” Rodriguez said.
She added that the staff will be better equipped to help struggling students.
Efforts to address students’ mental health have been ongoing in the school. Anthony Rodriguez is the mental health therapist. He gave me a rundown of the different programs the school offers to students.
“We have a student led wellness group called Positive Panthers Wellness Group, student advocates in the area of mental health and student well-being," he said. "And so, they are working on having awareness activities every month. And this past month we have an awareness activity providing positive affirmation for our student, in the campus and promoting a safe climate at school."
When I first walked on campus, I caught Rodriguez trying to recruit some students for the Paw-sitive Panthers Wellness Group. He then showed me the affirmations board full of colorful paws, each one with an encouraging message, “Be yourself!” “You got this!” and of course, in chronically online teen fashion, I spotted a “Ur Sigma!”, popular slang meaning cool.
The board is located outside the school’s Wellness Center.
“The mental health therapist team came in and started the wellness centers. The center is freestanding, it's to support students that are emotionally dysregulated during the academic day the staff, have passes they provide to the student, and the student is allowed to come in and get support... it's a good opportunity for us to connect with the student and see if they need additional support,” Rodriguez said.
The vibes are very relaxed in the Wellness Center. The lights are dim, relaxing music and scenic videos are playing. White noise is going on in the background. The center is well utilized by students, Rodriguez said, with about 500 having visited this year.
“We have art, we have sand, we have Legos. We have fidgets and stress balls. We have positive affirmation, journaling, guided relaxation, and also input from the students," he said. "Which centers are they interested in? What centers would they like to see added, to support their emotional health?”
He told me that earlier in the day a student visited the nurse’s office for a stomachache. She didn't find anything wrong, but he called him to the wellness center and found out that the pain was coming from stress over an assignment.
“I think sometimes students are unaware of their own emotional needs. There’s a lot of physical symptoms with those human reactions. Things like stress, worry, anxiety, and even grief," he said. "And we’re able to inform the students and educate the students how some of these symptoms might be manifesting in them.”
Rodriguez said he is glad that more staff members will be able to support and educate students with the help of this training.
“Today is a day we rejoice and celebrate, right? Because we have more people on campus that are becoming better informed about mental health, mental health challenges, promoting awareness, hopefully mitigating that stigma with mental health. Mental health is just as important as our physical health. And I see it as an opportunity for us as a campus and a school district to really begin to spread that message,” Rodriguez said.
Gadsden High School hopes to continue developing a strong support system for students and their mental health. The training for staff will continue, and Rodriguez says students will also have the opportunity to be trained on mental health first- aid.
